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UWE appoints Ken Livingstone's diversity employment expert

Issue date: 12 June 2007

The University of the West of England (UWE) has appointed Ian Apperley formerly adviser to Ken Livingstone and the London Assembly as its new Human Resources Director. Ian was recruited for his extensive experience at the Greater London Authority, widely recognised as one of the country's leading diversity employers.

Ian has 16 years experience working in human resources at national and regional levels. He has spent the past 6 years as Head of Human Resources at the Greater London Authority where he was responsible for developing new initiatives to boost employment opportunities for women, disabled people, and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. The GLA was one of the first organisations to reach level 5 of the Equality Standard for Local Government, and was recently voted top diversity employer in a recent Guardian survey.

Sir Howard Newby UWE's new Vice Chancellor said, "For UWE to become a distinctive university in extending educational opportunities to all who can benefit from it, we need to make sure our students are supported by diverse staff that are fully representative of the global community in which we sit. Under the steerage of our diversity committee headed up by our governor and former HTV presenter Sherrie Eugene, a commitment to mentoring schemes, increased diversity training and exploring working in partnership with the various equality bodies we have made a good early start on this agenda. However we know we have a lot still to do and Ian's appointment is another step along the road to fulfilling our aspirations"

As Head of Human Resources, Ian provided advice to Mayor Ken Livingstone and the London Assembly, and implemented HR strategies to support the GLA's bid for exemplar employer status.

Previously, Ian was Head of HR at the Local Government Association – the representative body for 500 English and Welsh local authorities.

Ian says “I am delighted to be joining UWE at this exciting stage of its development. UWE has a progressive and ambitious programme for change, and I am looking forward to working with my new colleagues to secure the programme's objectives”.
Ian starts on 13 August.